40. Levi
Levi slammed into his apartment. He hadn’t come straight home, rather driving around the city for an hour or so trying to forget… and maybe avoiding his apartment because memories of Alexis were all through it now. That was why he hated having people in his space. That was why he usually kept his apartment a sacred space. Now it was tainted. He might even need to move. Fucking Alexis.
Was there anyone around him who had even an ounce of integrity? He stalked over to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Fireball. It had been a gag gift from Elias. Right now, he didn’t care about the quality of the liquor, he just wanted to get blind drunk and forget about the fact that his girlfriend had set a murderer free. He poured a tumbler full of the whiskey and gulped it like it was a shot. He hissed as the cinnamon-flavoured alcohol burned all the way down his oesophagus. If he couldn’t dull his brain with drink, then giving himself an ulcer was the next best thing. He knew that didn’t make sense but again… He. Didn’t. Care.
Except he did.
He wouldn’t be doing this to himself if he didn’t care.
He cared too fucking much.
He poured another large tumbler full and, taking the bottle with him, strode across to the couch and fell on it, being careful not to spill his drink. He drank again—it didn’t burn so much this time—and tried to wipe the panicked and horrified look on Alexis’ face from his memory. She didn’t get to look like that. She didn’t get to look upset and hurt and… and whatever else it was he’d seen on her face. This was her fault.
His doorbell rang and he groaned, ignoring it.
It rang again, and it was as if someone was actually leaning against it.
‘Fuck. Off,’ he yelled.
That’s when the banging started. Whoever the fucker was on the other side of his door had a death wish. Levi got to his feet and, still keeping hold of the bottle, marched to the front door, prepared to use the bottle as a weapon if need be.
Theo stood on the other side, leaning casually against the doorframe. He noticed the bottle and raised a single perfectly sculpted eyebrow at Levi.
‘Fuck off,’ Levi said, swinging the door shut as he turned away.
Theo stopped the door from closing with his foot and followed Levi into the apartment.
‘Trying to set yourself on fire because you know how much you fucked up?’ Theo inquired, a low thrum of anger in his voice.
‘I’m sorry?’ Levi spat, turning on him. ‘I’m the one who fucked up? Let me guess. You’ve spoken to Alexis, she told you I flipped out, and now you’re here to defend her? Well, you can just take your self-righteous bullshit and fuck the hell off.’
‘I don’t think I’ve heard you say fuck this many times in a row in… well, ever.’
‘Do I look like I give a good goddamn what you think?’ Levi asked, pointing to himself with the hand that still held the bottle. It was the bandaged one. The one he’d nearly broken on Jonah’s face. The one Alexis had taken care of.
In a fit of temper, Levi slammed the bottle down and went to work unwinding the bandage from his hand. He didn’t need her help. He could fucking bandage his own hand.
‘What the hell did you do to yourself?’ Theo asked, his eyes widening as the bruising was revealed.
‘I punched Jonah,’ Levi said. ‘I think I broke his nose… or a cheekbone.’
Theo gave him a slow clap. ‘About fucking time. What did he do to make you finally snap?’
‘He was being an arsehole.’
‘Well, obviously. But what was it specifically? Jonah has been an arsehole his entire life. It had to be something else to incite you to violence.’
‘He was hitting on Alexis… at family dinner… in front of Ebony and Chloe and Beau.’
Theo slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good for you.’ He then squeezed his shoulder. Hard. ‘So, if you’re willing to punch your brother for the woman upstairs, why did you walk away from her tonight? Why did you abandon her?’
‘Because she… just forget it,’ Levi said with a resigned sigh. He reached up to tug his hair but winced when the action opened a few of the cuts on his hand.
Levi was tired. He was just so fucking tired. Every day felt like a fight. He had to constantly fight himself when he was at work. The conflict between his beliefs and his family’s desires was a constant battle he hadn’t even realised he was participating in. He was just over it. He wanted to live peacefully. Was that too fucking much to ask? He just wanted a little peace; peace of mind, peace in his heart, and some goddamn peace in his head.
He reached for the bottle and didn’t bother with a glass. He chugged straight from the bottle until Theo snatched it away from him.
‘Settle down there, Slugger,’ he said. ‘If you’re going to wipe yourself out, at least do it with some class. What is this shit anyway?’ He inspected the label. ‘Cinnamon flavoured whiskey? Are you kidding me? Has pumpkin spice invaded every corner of the world now?’
‘Give it back,’ Levi said, reaching for the bottle but overestimating where Theo was standing and falling. Thankfully the couch was there to catch him.
‘Yeah, you’re not getting this back. Let me get you a proper drink, and then in the morning when your hangover feels like someone smacked you over the head with a building, we can talk.’
Had a building landed on him? Levi hurt all over… even his eyelashes hurt.
‘Good morning, Sunshine.’
‘Fuck off,’ he rasped. Why was his throat sore? It felt like he’d been eating fire or razor blades.
‘Drink this.’
Levi didn’t bother opening his eyes. He held his hand out, and Theo put something in it. It felt slightly warm.
‘It has a sippy-cup lid,’ Theo said.
‘I’m not a toddler.’
‘No? You were sure behaving like one last night.’
Levi didn’t sit up. He brought the cup to his lips and sipped.
‘Honey water?’
‘Old family recipe,’ Theo said. ‘Drink.’
Levi drank, and it soothed his throat. Not so much his head, though.
Theo took the cup from him and then handed him a small glass bottle.
‘Hangover remedy,’ he said by way of explanation.
Levi drank that too. It could have been cyanide and he wouldn’t have cared. Dying was better than feeling like every bone in his body was broken.
‘And I brought you soup.’ The joy in Theo’s voice almost made Levi retch… or that could have been the mention of food. ‘Come on. Don’t be a baby. Hangover soup is the best.’
‘For breakfast?’ Levi asked, finally opening his eyes and pushing himself up to a sitting position.
‘When else would you have it?’ Theo asked. ‘Hangovers usually happen in the morning.’
‘Why are you here?’ Levi asked, squinting up at him.
‘I stayed over.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I couldn’t leave you unsupervised. Who knows what the hell you would have done. By the way, you can have your phone back after you finish a full bowl of my soup.’
‘Did you seriously cook?’
‘Well… cook? No. Order in? Yes.’
‘Thank God,’ Levi said. ‘The last thing I need right now is food poisoning.’
With gargantuan effort, Levi got out of bed and padded into the kitchen. Theo was pouring the soup into a bowl, and Levi had to admit it smelled good. His stomach rumbled in anticipation.
‘Eat,’ Theo said when Levi had taken a seat at the counter.
Levi lifted the spoon to his mouth and sipped cautiously. It wasn’t bad. It was basically a meat and vegetable soup with a bit of spice. He didn’t know if he could eat soup for breakfast every day, but this was good, and it surprisingly made him feel, if not quite human, at least better.
‘Are you ready to talk about what happened last night?’ Theo asked.
Levi narrowed his eyes at his friend. ‘Are you going to let me talk, or are you going to lecture me?’
‘I’m willing to listen to your side of the story before my TedTalk begins.’
Levi rolled his eyes and then groaned because it made his head pound.
‘One of my clients went missing,’ Levi said. ‘I had suspicions of domestic violence but didn’t say anything. Then she just stopped coming. I later found out she’d died. Her husband had been accused of murder, but his lawyers got him off. I know for a fact he killed her.’
‘You know for a fact?’ Theo asked dryly.
‘I know with a good amount of intuition,’ Levi corrected. ‘But no one even interviewed me. The police didn’t ask me if I suspected anything. I wasn’t even aware of her death or the court case.’
‘And this is Alexis’ fault, how?’
‘She was one of the lawyers. But you already know this. I know you went to her first before coming to me. So, it doesn’t really matter what I say; you’re going to take her side.’
Theo folded his arms. ‘Did Alexis kill your client?’
‘What? Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Then why are you blaming her for it? As far as I can tell, she was just doing her job.’
‘Not very well.’
‘Oh, I think she did it extremely well if she got him off,’ Theo said.
‘And that makes it right? Getting an innocent verdict because she is good at her job is okay?’
‘So she should have done a shitty job, then?’
‘Yes,’ Levi said. ‘Why would she even try to defend him?’
‘Because it was her job,’ Theo said, enunciating slowly. ‘Haven’t you ever done something that goes against your beliefs?’
Levi’s gut clenched.
‘Like… I don’t know,’ Theo said, inspecting his nails. ‘Like covering for your fucking brother?’ He lifted his eyes to glare at him.
‘That’s different,’ Levi snapped.
‘Is it?’
‘He didn’t kill someone.’
‘Not yet,’ Theo said. ‘Not that you know of.’
Levi’s head flew back like he’d been slapped. ‘What?’
‘Come on. You cannot tell me you haven’t thought the same thing. I know it’s not common, but it does happen. And if he can fuck up a simple procedure like Botox injections, how much worse can he do with an abdominoplasty?’
Levi stared down at the dregs of his soup.
‘Imagine if I went to see Jonah,’ Theo said quietly. ‘Imagine if I wanted to get double eyelid surgery?’
‘The fuck you will,’ Levi said.
Theo held up his hands. ‘Of course I won’t, but that’s because I know Jonah, and I would not let him anywhere near my face. But there are other people out there like me who don’t know. Your clinic has the highest rating in the city. Someone like me could easily go in thinking Jonah is the surgery god he thinks he is.’
‘This is all hypothetical,’ Levi argued.
‘Maybe, but it is also entirely possible. You have known for a long time just what a quack Jonah is, and you’ve done nothing. How is that any different to what Alexis did? And you’re forgetting a very important detail.’
‘What?’
‘She walked away,’ he said quietly. ‘She realised what her father was and walked away. Can you say you’ve done the same?’
Levi felt like throwing up.
What had he done?